5.  The applicant was born in 1960 and lives in Tbilisi.
6.  On 21 May 2006 the applicant, a former police officer, was arrested on the Georgian-Turkish border on suspicion of smuggling drugs into Georgia. According to the record of the applicant’s body search carried out on the spot, 650 Subutex pills were found in a pocket of his jacket. He signed the record, noting in his own handwriting that he did not object to being searched in the absence of a lawyer. The applicant exercised his right to remain silent at that time, as well as during an examination he underwent as a suspect the following day.
7.  On 23 May 2006 the applicant was charged with trafficking substances analogous to, or precursors of, narcotic drugs (Articles 260 and 262 of the Criminal Code). Questioned on the same day in the presence of his advocate, the applicant agreed to testify. He confessed to the crime, naming his accomplices, including a high-level official of the anti-drug department of the Georgian Ministry of the Interior, who had allegedly been covering up their illicit dealings. Subsequently, the investigation authority arrested the named persons, some of whom confessed to the drug trafficking. Other relevant evidence, including transcripts of taped telephone conversations between some of the suspects, was also added to the criminal file.
8.  On 11 January 2007 the applicant and his accomplices were convicted of the above-mentioned drug offence. During the trial, the applicant retracted his previous self-incriminating statements and claimed innocence, asserting that the police had planted the Subutex in his pocket and that he had never conspired to engage in any illicit drug dealing. The court took note of that retraction and nevertheless observed that the applicant’s new version of events contradicted other findings in the case. Those findings were based, inter alia, on full or partial confessions explicitly made by some of his accomplices during the trial, in the presence of their advocates. In addition, the court analysed the transcripts of the taped telephone conversations, arriving at the conclusion that, despite their coded language, they confirmed the existence of a conspiracy between the applicant and other defendants. The conviction was also confirmed by the statements of certain other witnesses, as well as by the results of searches of the defendants’ homes.
9.  On 9 February 2007 the applicant appealed against the conviction, calling into question the factual findings of the lower court. He also complained that the court had confirmed his conviction only on the basis of the transcripts of the taped conversations, without listening to the actual recordings.
10.  On 12 July 2007 the Tbilisi Court of Appeal, after hearing the applicant and other defendants, some of whom maintained their confessions in exchange for a plea bargain with the prosecution, and having reviewed other case materials, upheld the applicant’s conviction. As regards his complaint about the transcripts of the taped conversations, the appellate court dismissed it, stating that the applicant should have raised it at the first-instance hearing.
11.  The applicant’s appeal on point of law of 10 September 2007, in which he reiterated the arguments that he had made before the appellate court, was dismissed as inadmissible by the Supreme Court of Georgia on 26 February 2008. The applicant was thus sentenced to twenty-one years in prison, which started to run from the day of his arrest on 21 May 2006. He was placed in Rustavi no. 6 prison (“Rustavi Prison”).
12.  According to the applicant’s medical file, he is suffering from glomerulonephritis, nephrosclerosis, chronic renal failure, viral hepatitis C (HCV), chronic bronchitis and arterial hypertension. His renal disorders developed gradually, as a result of a traffic accident in 1998, which caused septicaemia (blood poisoning). Before the applicant was detained he had already been diagnosed with those renal disorders at advanced stages and, according to his medical file, underwent several courses of symptomatic urological treatment.
13.  The prison authority took charge of the applicant’s health problems for the first time on 6 July 2006. Notably, in order to have his state of health assessed, he was taken on that day to the Central Clinic of Tbilisi State Medical University for blood biochemical and urine analysis.
14.  On the basis of the results of those tests, the prison authority then transferred the applicant, on 8 July 2006, from Rustavi Prison to the Medical Establishment of the Ministry of Justice (“the prison hospital”), where he received comprehensive medical treatment over the following four months, until 4 November 2006. This included various laboratory tests and examinations (blood and urine tests, electrocardiography, chest X-ray), repeated consultations with medical specialists, including a nephrologist who had been summoned by the prison authority from a civil hospital (this medical specialist examined the applicant on 18 July and 7 and 18 September 2006), and the prescription of appropriate drugs (antibiotics and antihypertensive and anti-anaemic agents) for nephrological/urological problems, HCV and arterial tension.
15.  In addition, the prison authority, on the advice of a medical panel which had examined the applicant on 24 July 2006, repeatedly approached the medical authorities of various civilian hospitals between August and September 2006, seeking special tests, such as for creatinine and urea levels in the applicant’s blood and an ultrasound scan of his abdominal cavity.
16.  On 4 November 2006 the applicant’s doctor at the prison hospital opined that when his current course of treatment was complete the applicant could be discharged back to Rustavi Prison, where he was to continue receiving medication.
17.  Subsequently, the applicant had a medical check-up between 13 February and 15 March 2007 and another between 18 April and 18 May 2007, at the National Forensic Bureau (“the NFB”). Reports on both examinations confirmed that the applicant’s condition was stable and that he required long-term out-patient treatment under the supervision of a nephrologist, cardiologist and hepatologist.
18.  On 11 August 2007 the applicant was again admitted to the prison hospital, where he remained until 18 August 2007. The in-patient treatment included blood and urine tests, chest X-ray, abdominal ultrasound scan and consultations with a cardiologist. When he was discharged the doctor in charge of the applicant recommended that the patient continue treatment with the relevant drugs on an out-patient basis under the supervision of medical specialists.
19.  On 29 January 2008 the applicant was placed on an emergency basis in the intensive care unit of the prison hospital, with a diagnosis of possible food poisoning; he was also suffering from anuria (non-passage of urine), his condition being described as serious from the nephrological/urological point of view (“the relapse of 29 January 2008”). The applicant’s medical file confirms that comprehensive medical treatment was administered to him there, as a result of which his condition improved (the symptoms of anuria disappeared), and on 5 February 2008 he was transferred from intensive care to the ordinary therapeutic department of the prison hospital.
20.  As disclosed by his medical file, the applicant underwent again, during his second stay in the prison hospital, the relevant medical tests and was examined by various medical specialists, including a nephrologist summoned by the prison authority from a civilian urology hospital (this examination took place on 4 February 2008). The nephrologist prescribed the applicant treatment with twenty different types of antibiotic, hypolipidemic and antihypertensive drugs; the prison hospital immediately provided the applicant with this medication in the necessary dosages.
21.  On 3 April 2008, after several medical specialists, including a nephrologist from a civilian hospital whose assistance had been requested again by the prison authority, had confirmed that the applicant’s condition had stabilised, he was discharged back to Rustavi Prison, where he continued to receive the prescribed medication on an out-patient basis.
22.  At the applicant’s request, experts from the National Forensic Bureau (“the NFB”) conducted additional medical examinations between 15 February and 7 April 2008. Their conclusions (“the medical conclusions of 15 February to 7 April 2008”) disclosed that the applicant’s kidney conditions, which could be qualified as progressive serious disorders, had slightly progressed in comparison to the previous medical examinations; the recommendation was that the applicant should continue treatment under the permanent supervision of a nephrologist.
23.  On 8 June 2008 the Rustavi prison authorities informed the applicant’s advocate that its medical staff did not include a nephrologist. However, the prison undertook that in the event of deterioration of the applicant’s condition he would immediately be transferred to an appropriate medical establishment.
24.  On 22 October 2008 the Court, allowing the applicant’s request, instructed the Government under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court to place the applicant in a medical establishment capable of providing adequate treatment for his various health problems; the Government were further invited to provide the Court with information regarding the capability of the prison hospital in that regard.
25.  On 19 November 2008 the Government, as well as giving an account of the treatment administered to the applicant prior to the relapse of 29 January 2008, also informed the Court that, after the indication of the medical interim measure under Rule 39 of the Rules of Court, the applicant was transferred to the prison hospital on 30 October 2008. As disclosed by the relevant excerpts from his medical file, he received a comprehensive medical examination there, which included numerous laboratory tests (blood, urine, ultrasound-based diagnostic tests of stomach, kidney and heart, chest X-ray and others), repeated consultations with various specialists (including a nephrologist from a civilian hospital who examined the applicant on 20 November 2008) who prescribed him ten types of medication for his renal, cardiac and hepatic conditions.
26.  On 23 June 2009 the Government updated the Court on the treatment provided to the applicant in the prison hospital. The medical file confirmed once again that the applicant had been regularly examined by various specialists, including different nephrologists from civilian hospitals, who had examined the applicant on 12 January, 16 March and 5 June 2009; a cardiologist and infection specialist, who prescribed specific treatment for him; the implementation of that treatment was then supervised on a daily basis by a general practitioner at the prison hospital (“the GP”). According to the GP’s medical log, which closely monitored the fluctuations in applicant’s state of health from the date of his admission to the prison hospital on 30 October until early July 2009, his condition remained stable overall, except for recurrent headache and general weakness. The applicant was treated with thirty-six types of prescribed anti-hypertension, cardiological, hepatoprotective, anti‑inflammatory, urological, nephrological, antioxidant, beta-adrenoreceptor and sedative medication, as well as with various vitamins. In addition, as disclosed by the medical file, on 8 June 2009 the applicant gave his consent in writing to start receiving anti-HCV treatment with the powerful anti-viral agents Ribovirin and Interferon.
27.  In the light of the above-mentioned information, the Government submitted that they had taken all necessary measures for the protection of the applicant’s health in prison, and asked the Court to lift the interim measure previously indicated on 22 October 2008.
28.  By letters dated 4 August 2009 and 16 April 2010, the applicant objected before the Court to the consultations provided by a nephrologist, stating that they were too infrequent. Notably, referring to the relevant records in his medical file, he complained that between November 2008 and February 2010, he had been examined by that specialist on only seven occasions, with the intervals varying from two to three months. Acknowledging that the prison hospital had started administering anti‑HCV and other types of drugs, the applicant nevertheless claimed that no adequate treatment had been provided for his kidney problems. Furthermore, certain anti-HCV drugs, such as Interferon, had, he stated, had a deleterious effect on his kidneys. Relying on these arguments, the applicant claimed that only a civilian hospital, where he could benefit, according to the medical conclusions of 15 February to 7 April 2008, from the permanent supervision of a nephrologist, could provide adequate treatment for him.
29.  In support of the above allegations the applicant submitted more recent excerpts from his medical file, giving an account of the treatment provided for him in the prison hospital from December 2009 to March 2010. Those documents disclosed that his overall condition had remained stable during that period. According to the GP’s opinion dated 23 February 2010, given the chronic nature of the applicant’s kidney problems and that his condition was not acute, nor was he experiencing deterioration, there was no need for specific treatment such as haemodialysis at a specialist nephrology hospital. As to his HCV, despite the provided anti-viral medication, there continued to be a virological response to the blood tests conducted (SVR).
30.  On 30 August 2010 the Court, in the light of the additional information provided by the parties, decided to lift the interim measure previously indicated on 22 October 2008.
31.  Despite the fact that the interim measure was lifted, of which both parties were duly informed by the Court on 1 September 2010, the relevant authorities did not remove the applicant from the prison hospital. Thus, at the time of the submission of the Government’s comments of 6 May 2011 (see paragraph 4 above), the applicant was still undergoing, and had been since 30 October 2008, treatment in that hospital.